I have always heard people talk about this nonsense called a “runner’s high” that you get from a really good run. I have run quite a bit in my life in spite of being hugely overweight for my first 26 years. I ran cross country one year in high school. I’ve run 5k races different times over the years. I even ran The Boilermaker in Utica, NY, a 15k (that’s 9.3 miles baby!!) back when I weighed about 215 pounds…and I have NEVER, not once, thought that running was anything but miserable.

I’m not sure what changed. But it did.

And I LOVE it!

Yesterday, I set out to run 4miles for the first time in probably 7 or more years. I was determined to finish. That’s all. I had no goal for my pace or speed. I just wanted to run the 4miles without stopping to walk.

Not only did I run the full 4miles, but I did it with a 10 minute mile pace finishing in 41 minutes and 22 seconds! (I waited at 6 stoplights throughout my run, so I gave myself the 10 minute mile pace to be fair! haha)

The best part is that I felt great doing it! My body felt strong. My breathing was steady. I honestly think if I had decided to keep going, I could have done 5 miles.

I actually think I can credit it to 2 things:

First – my new iPhone app called Nike+ GPS.

It is so cool! The app uses the GPS/mapping system on the iPhone to track your run. It can track your distance, track your pace, plays music from your iPhone playlists, tells you how many calories you’ve burned…it is AWESOME! My favorite part was when I would hit a mile as I was running, a voice would come on over my music and say, “You have reached 1 mile. Your current pace is 9 minutes and 17 seconds.” It motivated me to push myself to go faster, similar to how I am on a treadmill. I’ve since updated the app to announce when I’ve hit every quarter mile. I think I will like hearing updates even more frequently. We’ll see next time I run!

It costs $1.99 in the app store and has 4/5 stars with 320 reviews! Well worth the $2…I promise!

This is what it looks like when you start:

(Notice in the upper left hand corner that it says “View Map”. You can click on this to see your actual route.)

This is what it shows when you finish:

(It gives the breakdown of your pace, total time and calories burned. There is even a tab to link it to your Facebook account so that you can post on FB that you finished your run. The feedback I got from people posting “Great Job!” or “Way to go!” was one of my favorite parts of the app, too!)

The second thing that contributed to my awesome run –

My music playlist.

The music on my workout playlist yesterday totally pumped me up yesterday throughout the entire run. I have sort of a random taste in music, but when I run, I like to have a fast beat.

Here is my running playlist:
*Poker Face – Lady Gaga

*I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas

*Forever – Chris Brown

*You Are Alive – Fragma (this song is incredible…great beat and great message. Totally got me through when I was fat and single and trying to lose weight to change my life. You should totally download it!)

*Castles in the Sky – Ian Van Dahl

*Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here (the fast remix one) – Deborah Cox

*Run it! – Chris Brown

*See You Again – Miley Cyrus (I know, random. But I really love running to this song! haha)

*Still D.R.E. – Dr. Dre

*My Humps – Black Eyed Peas

Now if I were to go through my iPod just to listen to my music, I probably wouldn’t pick half of these songs. But for some reason, when I run, they are PERFECT!!!

Also worth mentioning:
I also use a website called WalkJogRun Running Routes to map out how far I’mrunning. I like to know ahead of time where I am running and I like to have an alternate way of measuring the distance just to ensure my phone GPS is accurate. It is really simple and very user-friendly.

I want to point out, however, for those of your reading this and thinking that this doesn’t apply to you because you are “just not a runner,” please know that I have had those same feelings about running for most of my life! This is the very first time that I have ever felt this positively about running.

This post today is to let you know that, even if you’ve run before and hated it, that it may be worth giving it another shot.